You know that strip of lawn between the sidewalk and the street? It usually doesn't look that great...what besides grass do you have growing there??
Anyone have that strip between the sidewalk and street?
I used to at my old house.
I planted 250 mixed crocus there onece ! ! that would be ONCE.
It lookes spectacular the first year. AQll the neighbors thought I was crazy whiiiiiney voices "why would anyone do that"?
They never got it.
The sacond year there were half the blooms due to squirrls.I was planning perennials DL's and Hosta Coriopsis, a few lilies. But I moved.
It would have tipped the neighbors right over.
Anyone else????
You have to consider salt and plowing. The plow often piles snow on one area of my front and messes things up. When you complain they say they have the right of access to the front 10 feet.
Not only do I have that strip, but the subdivision developer dumped all his construction debris there. Stones, concrete, gunk, etc. I tried for three years to grow grass there with very poor results.
But there is a happier ending. I have found at least three things that grow well there (besides dandelions and other weeds). Daylilies (around the mailbox area), Heath and heather (picture shows one of my two heather beds a year ago), and thyme! I noticed that some thyme had popped up there and was doing well, so for the last two years I have been dropping thyme seeds all over and hoping they will overcome the dandelions. This year I am experimenting with a patch of Lysimachia aurea to see if that will work too, and am putting hardy geranium around the edges of the heather.
Looks good, Don. Is that a mugo pine too?
I have the strip planted in creeping thyme with chives growing 'round the telephone pole. I put a couple peonys in the space between the phone pole and my neighbor's drive way. I added some lavendar last year and have always had sage, tarragon and oregano growing. (My strip is at quite a pitch so there is really good drainage!) I underplanted with saffron crocus so in the Fall there are purple crocus. There is still a bit of garlic growing from an experiment a couple of years ago. The worst part is the neighbors dogs who use it as a privy! I used some of the big, ugly rocks in my yard to create steps up to the sidewalk. The thyme has done well for the most part, blloming with purple flowers right now. There is one patch that died off and I'm just patching clippings back into the bare spots. I certainly do not miss trying to mow there!
My neighbor covered her area with brick pavers and has three very large (~24"?) pots planted with a different flower combo every year.
Grass and weeds for me. I try to grass seed it every year or two. It looks alright right now.
Cat-good thing my neighbors have big enough yards for their dogs to use their own. I'm trying thyme in another area in my yard so I want to see how I like it first & if it does well.
Hi Nisi!
Did she have to get permission from the township to put in the pavers?(ya know the laws we have around here)
I was thinking sedum spurium red carpet
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/SERES.html
What do ya think??
I'll probably have to do 2 different(or many diff) plantings one side of the driveway is full sun, the other is shaded by a maple.
Who's got sidewalks?
Martha
flowerjen:
About permission to put down pavers: Our neighbor must have gotten permission because she has had them there for over a decade, so she would have been "caught" by now. (Hope I'm not getting her in trouble!) Once we put up a fence that was too close to the sidewalk (we didn't know) and got a letter in a couple of days. I might be exaggerating. Might have been a week.
But I was wondering--do we need permission to plant anything other than grass in that section? Or do we just need to maintain it neatly, with any low growing plants we want? I think someone else in our neighborhood had marigolds there last year. I was considering portulaca because it doesn't need much water.
Nisi
Jen, does snow get dumped on it by the plow? If so, you don't want anything that does not tolerate prolonged wet conditions. Martha, that was my first reaction! None here.
I've seen waldestinia planted- it must be somewhat salt tolerant...
Victor, you are awarded two eagle-eye points. Yes, that is a dwarf mugo pine in the middle of the heather. This year the heath/heather has grown quite a bit but the mugo is still about the same size. One nice thing about heather is that by varying the varieties you can get almost year-round bloom.
hI all. new to NE forum. I always think I am in the mid-atlantic, but nope.
My neighborhood has this strip. I planted lamb's ear, creeping time and I'm adding day lilies this year.
Hey Peg! I stayed in Winchester once, loved the town. I flip between here and the Midatlantic forum also.
We have 2 small purple maple trees one looks like it's dying planted in that strip( why they planted trees there I'll never know) and we're thinking we'll have to ask permission to cut it down. Just looked up our township ordinances and it says we're responsible for the upkeep of any land that abuts the public road.
don't know if you'd see this
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/855160/
oh, yeah, that taylor's great with the curb. Her curb strip is 3 times the width of mine.
My strip is about 8 feet by 32 feet. I just planted a bluestone perennials preplanned border, http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/pdf/bordergarden.pdf along with some tomatoes, cosmos and nicotiana. There area few planted in my neighborhood that look great. I figure if it doesn't grow because of the salt etc. I am out $125, so not a tragedy.
If it doesn't work I will try something like the daffodils and daylilies combination at whiteflower farms. http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/983080-product.html
I really liked the inferno strip http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/99517/ but for some reason they say this can't be grown in the east. I didn't pursue it.
I have hostas in that torture chamber strip - it's also under a big maple. I have to water them to keep them growing.
We haven't gotten too much snow here. They do a brine before the snow and most of it melts but I guess it does get some pile up there.
That is a nice looking curbside that seed picker has there.
The AZ Dept of Transportation took care of the strip between my property and the road very nicely. Six months after buying the property, ADOT informed me they were cutting off my driveway and raising the highway16 feet up in the air. I would have to enter from the side of the property 200 feet to the south.
But it gets even better. This was not just a house but a mini-commercial complex--three little stores in front attached to a house. I was paying 2.5x the regular property tax. Bought it because it was on the main hwy going to the casinos in NV. Good visibity for a store. Easy off. Easy back on. Or so I thought.
They did it too. Took almost two years. The road, which I used to look slightly down at, was higher now than the swamp coolers on my roof. On the plus side, I had about five feet between my stone wall and the embankment up to the highway that nobody could use but me.
UGH!!!